Update on 2-24-15 Board meeting

THANK YOU! Your emails and phone calls do matter. These two items directly affect our community and they were on the Board agenda because of you. As we become more organized and vocal about what we want for our community, the Board cannot ignore us and must take action for us, the citizens. We must stay strong and persist in this battle to protect our quality of life in Shingle Springs and El Dorado County. It is not easy to attend meetings in the middle of a work day, so here is a special thank you to all of you that were able to attend the Board meeting and fill the room and testify to show the Board how much we care.

The Tribe gave a presentation regarding the size and location of their proposed open shooting range. They stated that they do not have to follow any environmental review process because they are paying for the project with cash instead of financing with a bank. This begs the question, "Why does paying cash excuse them from environmental review to discuss health and safety issues?" Public comment regarding the project suggested that many people in the community would like to see a new shooting range in the county; however, this is not a proper location for an OPEN shooting range because it is too close to our local schools, recreational trails, residences, and Highway 50. Noise and stray bullets were the top concerns.

Remember, the Tribe could mitigate many of the concerns by building an indoor range. Building an indoor range is very expensive. However, the Tribe is also planning to build a gas station and fast food restaurant right across the street from the shooting range. That indicates that they have the means to build an indoor range and be the good neighbor that they strive to be.

The Supervisors directed staff to create a Staff Report with options of what the Board can do to stop this process if the Tribe will not be a good neighbor to the community. We are looking forward to that Staff Report and supporting whatever action the Board can take to stop the project in its current form. We have been told by several sources that there are public health and safety regulations that the Tribe must follow. We need our Supervisors to quickly determine what those regulations are and enforce them for the well being of all El Dorado County citizens.

What you can do:

Be prepared to take action! If the Tribe moves forward with this project and our Board of Supervisors does not take action on our behalf, then we, the citizens, will have to be ready to fight for our community.

Share this information with your friends and family and get them involved

This item was supposed to be about following up on the Board's motion in December to reduce the size of urban limit lines (Community Region Lines) in Shingle Springs and on the Green Valley Road corridor. However, special interests led by the El Dorado County Chamber of Commerce and a group called EDCARP, turned the item into a political statement. Keep in mind that EDCARP can be directly tied to the $1,000,000 campaign that Parker Development (Serrano/Marble Valley) led to defeat Measure O during the November election. It was very disingenuous for these groups to state that the $1,000,000 of mailers and TV ads did not influence the voters last November. What was more troubling is that staff and the Supervisors played into these political statements instead of working to find solutions that would alleviate many of our concerns.

The result was that the Board moved to put off our request for reducing Community Region Lines until 2016. What became clear at the meeting is that the Board is majorly amending our General Plan and rewriting our Zoning Ordinance to allow for higher-density development. In light of this it is even more critical that the Shingle Springs Community Region line be fixed BEFORE they move to amend the General Plan.

Here is the silver lining in this situation: There was a clear message from the Board and staff that Community Planning is important to them to help guide our future. This is especially good news for Shingle Springs because we started that process back in 2013 and can pick up from where we left off to move forward with planning for our future.

What you can do:

Be prepared to respond to emails and attend our next round of community meetings to continue working on our Shingle Springs Community Plan. It is a lot of work to complete a Community Plan, but we have a good start and if we roll up our sleeves and work together we can create a beautiful vision for Shingle Springs so that we maintain the quality of life that we have all come to love. Visit our website to see the progress we made in 2013 toward our Community Plan: www.shinglespringscommunityplan.org